wet dreams. living machines

Interesting Communiccation Techniques

http://www.blublu.org/sito/video/video.htm

how it communicates its content?

Digital folio of street art that graphically ties in with the subject matter, animated and cartoony – a little scrapbook.

what you like about it and why.

I like the way the site is navigated, it is uninterupted and is easy to use whilst still being really quirky. It is curious and fun. What story does it tell, narrative does it invoke? It brings alive a global network of streetart and ties then together as the narrative through humanising them as a character that is travelling. The main tool in this is animating of “Muto” as a faux doco. The overall design of the website is a notebook which contextualises the content. It invokes a sense of grass roots urban activism. It is interesting the idea of the walls coming alive -the streetscape itself living and breathing. Of literally standing up – adding to the sense of street activism. The narrative starts with the alientation of the friendly lil alien street art. then gradually more and more street art starts moving.

How does it position the characters and the structure of their lives around the design? The product is the designs of the art which can be bought in the gallery. However this is only one aspect of the whole site which is more importantly a tool for a global narrative of artistic activism. Through this it placecs the characters as embodied by the moving artpieces and humanised street art as the david and corporate urban civilisation as Goliath.

dermastid-beatle-recipe.pdf

“Resins are complex substances that include oily compounds called terpenes. Over time, some terpenes evaporate while others condense and become cross-linked to each other, forming hard polymers.”

‘Our clean and green chemical processing technologies make it possible to produce bio-resins from renewable resources,’ says Dr Fowler. ‘We’ve succeeded in developing a low effluent manufacturing procedure that’s based on the use of vegetable oil, water, air and electricity and yields formaldehyde-free products with excellent performance characteristics.’ (www.azom.com)

Biopolymers are gaining attention and enthusiasm as the search for alternatives to the high energy and toxic biproduct creating existing petrochemical resins. PLA, polylactic acid, is obtained from corn starch or sugar beet through a chemical process (http://www.biomatdev.com/details-info-produit-marche.aspx?id=75). A product of Natureworks LLC will be used for Nobel Juice packaging. Metabolix inc have announced a plant to create PHA (poluhyrdoxyalkanoate) which is grown in fermentation vats using sugar and microbes (http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5609047/Bioresins-gaining-ground-over-skeptics.html#abstract).Further ReferencesSustainable Technologies Initiative DTI

NatureWorks LLCMetabolix INcPatents.com – ozonisation

The process, subject
It would be lovely to make this beautiful creation yet I am worried about the time restrictions. So I propose to attempt to make resins , explore all options of process and substance and do it myself. Simultaneously I want to explore bone as a material – through others experiences and through a set of experiments/creations.
I would like to get a cows carcass from an abattoir and start from there. Processing it to a point I can use it as a structural substance. This would incorporate:
BONES
- dissecting of carcass to locate and separate bone materials from the blood, guts and other such things.
- try not to vomit whilst doing this.
- use nature to get me bones – ants and little critters, the sun.

RESIN
- compiling a plethora of decaying matter
- using this decayinig matter to create resin substances….????

I think that this is unrealistic to make my beautiful object as there are many components:

Research: how to instructions on making resins, other examples etc. Explore possible uses for bone
Materials: finding and getting to a purified state. You can’t rush nature!
Craftmenship: making the molds, carving the bone etc.
Documentation: Video/photo essay of the dead cow and rotting rubbish to the beautiful object. This is integral to the whole embodied process and concept.

So I will continue to research using my blog as outlet then do some home grown exercises into alternative substances and waste art. Explore other ways of using bone within day to day design terms… the house of bones…..
Create a fully worked design concept for what I will make and initiate the process of resin making and bone carving. Ewww. Heehe. Hence is organised as a project and the foundations laid.
Right now shalt find the recipe for resins… so far not much luck eh.

Research and Development

For this blog I will look into two strains I discussed in class as a social/philosophical anaylsis.
1) Organic compounds as alternative materials throough an artistic response to humanity’s creation of waste exploring concepts of waste and consumerism and informative about the ways in which alternatives can be found.
2) GM cell design in it’s most extreme sci-fi exploration of strangeness.

WHAT KIND OF FUTURE DOES YOUR DESIGN SUGGEST?
WHAT KIND OF FUTURE DO YOU WANT TO ALLUDE TO IN YOUR DESIGN?

1) Organic compounds: The future that I am alluding to is a process as it is already happening; involving awareness of our own waste creation, a fundamental shift in the way in which consumerism and everyday life is lived and the integration of new technologies into product design and ways of living.
In sustaining our society it is integral that we really erase waste, that we design systems of production and objects as systems in themselves that create bi-bio-products that then become involved in other processes rather than becoming dormant or worse destroying other systems. In nature all outputs become another input – some living matter that seem bad can be absolutely fundamental to the ecosystem it lives in.

At this point I wonder whether it is fairer to say that the waste we produce is still involved in systemic responses of domino input and output however it is actually the time period that the materials take to break down, the embodied energy it takes to create and the polluting outputs involved. It is that plastic bottles will still be in the same spot 300 years later… or the most prominent example of chemicals in the atmosphere that have half lives of 500 years yet are absolute catalysts for climate change as they trap heat in the atmosphere.
plastic bottles actually are less of a problem (relatively) as the one unit won’t leak or take part in ruining their surrounding systems… until the shear volume of the bottles starts choking their environement.
this waffling around plastic and chemical has a conclusion: the waste problem can be split into two – the volume and the embodied toxins: the amount and the nature of the waste. This can then be analysed in duality.

The volume of waste is a direct relationship to the level of consumerism. The more stuff we have the more waste is created and the less waste is reused.* In terms of the future we will create new processes that make consumerism more palatable for our lil planet for sure and this is leaning toward a more balanced social consciousness and way of living. Yet this is not enough. Our consumerism is also directly correlated with static civilisations and wealth- we stay put, want more and can buy it. And devleoping nations have every right to this life too and as levels of production go up this can be seen to be happening. Meaning more people are wanting more stuff as the population rapidly increases.

All i can see is a 3d dimensional extrapolating matrix exponentially growing – we are mimcking the big bang in our growth rates out and up and everywhere. this is one hell of a dangerous biomimicry.

and back we come…
The future I am alluding too: the reason I want to do an artpiece rather than design a technology is to create a thoughtful response on many levels. A pradigm shift in social consciousness must happen for us to sustain our existence. Civilisations as the large megatropolises they are are not socially or ecosustainable…. \
At this point my head spins into an extremist tirade of apocalyptical proportions however might spare that til a later date.
ANYWAY – artpiece as a social response to the idea of waste and consumerism and the intricate nature of beauty as a precept for how we judge and prioritise desire and necessity. how acknowledging and confronting these precepts may harbour many of our attachments to consumerables and the addicitve nature of spending habits.

The nature is in a direct relationship to the way in which it is made – the extent of the artificicality of process. How far we have distorted and destroyed limitations set by nature. This is the optimistic, intriguing and creative part. Redesign, renovating, renaissance of function and practice. This is looking at what substitutes in material and process there is and going back to basics – rethinking what we need to do each and everyday if we were to sustainability renovate our lives.
As part of my artistic response I want to document the cultivation of organic resins and the use of bone to make a fantasmagoric form – pure form if looked at. However it’s embodiend energy and proces will be lovely, filthy and torrid journey of waste, blood, guts, rotting matter, phecies and filth to achieve it’s enlightened state. A real time beauty and the beast fairytale of object and process. wow. how romantic.

*Necessity is the mother of all invention – in circumstances of poverty people will use what they find – tyres into sandals, reusing bottles for a sealable container, any material for shelter etc.

So that is my thinking at this stage in regards to the ole FUTURE. actually i hope to instigate thought on the future as a incredible rethink of an obsession with zero waste and an embracing of alternative ways of living.
shit that doesn’t seem to specific – get back to you on the future.

In response to the question of the tangence of delving into the various processes. At this stage it is pretty widespread and have not managed to decide on a single topic. Am looking around at all sorts rather than hoaning in on a topic as yet. I am interested in decay & waste. That is I want to loook at uses of rotting,festering organic matter to be harnessed for product or energy. I particularly want to look into making of resins and substances that we take for granted as only being available in evil chemical compounds that if sniffed will kill us. I think this is quite practical however at the same token not really pushing the limits of process and design. I like the idea of creating an artpiece that is incredibly beautiful however made of decay and waste that otherwise would be chucked.
I am also interested in the genetic modification side of things – it could be a little more interesting to look into the most wacky designs on a cell by cell level. THis may take me into the world of nanotechnology or the corporate abuse of seed and soil. To maybe play devil’s advocate and create a concept of absolute molecular manipulation as a comment on the crazy power of such human control.
Biomimicry is very intersting however I was reading this dude the other day in an architectural mag who fully shat on biomimcry within architecture saying it was tokenistic, still only taking elements from nature rather than the whole system and still trying to control the process and maintain it within a static structure rather than within a fluid one which would be a true hanressing of nature.. That is by the static nature of buildings they do not copy nature however just a new way of overpowering nature…. Contentious!
Dont think I shall continue iwth the biomimicry as everyone else seems to be.
In terms of design concepts maybe I would look at how to make a non static architectural form that integrates natural process into the form and function. That is unlike in biomimcry where it is copied and humanised, actually how to make a living, breathing structure that a person/peeps could coexist with nature in…. where as things degrade and deterioate it is part and parcel with the ongoing growth of the building/system….the stuff of fairy tales with narled trees in your living room and little animals running around….
Will decide during the week

When talking about genetic modification agriculture warning bells sound VERY early on in the conversation…Particularly as the scientific research is so heavily intertwined with corporate objectives and the ownership of nature, more specifically the ownership of food sources…
The example shown in the clip of GM canola in Canada unfortuneatly is only the tip of the iceburg. If one looks at GM crops in developing nations (India is a fine case study) and the surrounding putrid implications the whole system of discourse implicates an incredibly tangled web of ethical neuropathy and literal first world corporate abuse of those in developing nations….Ten companies own over 90% of seed patents worldwide….
Shall post some links at a later date with examples….
Like many areas of legislation and corporations the indirect relationships that are created behind the direct linkage of ideologies of saving the world through ending hunger, or creating more efficient crops mostly destroy the ideology whilst keeping the facade of it. The implications socially, economically and culturally are blindsided through these sweeping and ambitious ideologies which are just compassionate war cries picked up to crete a Troy like mantra.
In response to one of the doco’s the idea that seed selection is a twentieth century anomaly is absurd. Indians have been cross breeding seeds for the optimum product for thousands of years as a static agricultural technique. These agricultural techniques are thought to actually mark the descent into climate change hell (see Flannery – The Weathermakers) with domesticating of farm animals and seed plantation markedly affecting ecosystems to indicate the start of the demise…
Happy stuff!

Biomimicry is a growing field which involves literally mimicking natural systems and techniques to design more sustainably. Janine M. Benyus writes, “Our planet-mates (plants, animals and microbes) have been patiently perfecting their wares for more than 3.8 billion years … turning rock and sea into a life-friendly home. What better models could there be?”
One example of such design methodology is the TERMES project. This case study uses the building techniques of termites as an architectural strategy.
As termite mounds keep themselves cool in Sub-Saharan temperature difference of 3 – 42 degrees the idea to design buildings by studying the principles of living and building that the termites use. This was imitated in architectural design of the Eastgate centre in Zimbabwe.
“The remarkable, seemingly random piles of mud which they build, are renowned for their ability to regulate and control the internal environments of their homes. Incredibly, the mound structures can maintain the same levels of ‘comfort’ as our own.
They are able to do this by forming complex ducts and channels which not only look like our own vessels and respiratory channels, but function as effectively as well. No other organism on the earth is known to engineer the environment to this level….There is estimated to be some 500 kilograms of termites for every human alive, which shows they must be doing something right.” [http://www.sandkings.co.uk/index.html ]
The process involved three steps: 1) Creating a 3d model of the mound.
2) Using this model to identify the ventilation, heat and mass transfer throughout the structure with proper relative dimensions. 3) To critically analyse these functions and project the usability for human function specifically within architecture.

One of the outcomes of such processes is the Eastgate centre in Zimbabwe. This building uses entirely natural means to ventilate the interior space. The building uses 10% of the energy of most buildings this size. Through this design the centre uses dramatically less energy so is a centre piece for sustainability and new ways of low cost methods of coping with temperature variation without creating massive energy bills. Construction costs were also dramatically lessened as there was no need for air conditioning (a $3.5 million installation cost within a $35 million building). These costs were passed on to the renters of the space as rent is 20% lower than the building next door. Hence this design had social implications well beyond the initial inspiration natural ventilation through the study of termites.
This method of design also highlights how within the biomimicry field studying the (ie – the termite mound in the desert) environmental characteristics in their extreme one can draw aspects of the whole within a less extreme environment thus providing an optimum outcome.
For more information on the Eastgate centre see:
http://library.wustl.edu/~listmgr/devel-l/Feb1997/0199.html and for further images see http://archnet.org/library/images/thumbnails.jsp?location_id=3167

Biomimicry is an interesting area which directly relates the design to a natural process. I think in some ways most design has always done this indirectly however with the priority of technological advancement rather than sustainability. If one looks at a helicopter or a plane these are adaptions of nature. However whether nature has been used as a direct recognised methodology to such an extent is not likely.
There are many designers who have coined names for getting inspiration from nature which borders on the field of biomimicry such as Ross Lovegrove and ‘Organic Essentialism’ which to him means “using nothing more – nothing less than is needed”. Lovegrove designs many beautiful objects and systems with an environmental priority. He describes himself as an evolutionary biologist rather than a designer. Rather than systematic involvement in the working of biomimicry used in the TERMES project he looks at the way form can use nature to create the optimum aesthetic with the greatest strength and userability. With pieces such as the DNA staircase one can see this is paramount by using the structure of DNA as his model for the staircase.


This is an obviously beautiful design however it optimises strength. Other work includes housing where the bricks are modelled on cells and fit together in a hexagonal modular construction. For more see http://www.designmuseum.org/design/ross-lovegrove
Lovegrove’s process similarly to TERMES assimilates and integrate natural process as a methodology to design by however with very different outcomes. Lovegrove’s use of materials does not lend to the sustainability cause however there is a lot of room to move within his mantra to include materials within the design methodology.
These two case studies display ways in which the filed of biomimicry can differ however with the same undertone of mimicking nature for a desired design outcome.

Having missed the first class this week was my first encounter with the wonderful world of biotech and design. The class discussion this week really got me thinking about the overlapping of ethical parameters and how one regulates this philosophy in terms of action of the individual, organisation and in the name of whom…. In terms of animal testing and design is it a more frivolous cause than the direct relationship socially established of killing in the name of science…? is design more roundabout…? By this I mean a good design can save many peoples time, money, and indirectly livlihoods of the manufacturers, the health of the environment etc… The liver we were much happier to extract the dna from than the goldfish because of the association of killing had been many times removed… having been handled and repackage many times before reaching the plate in our classroom… a similar process of association as that of design, benefit and responsiblity when looking at killing little fishies…
how many degress of seperation of product and conduit do you take negative or positive associations to determine the ethical content of your goldfish, laptop or liver?
This is obvious of the ethical debate of animal testing however is also relevant to many aspects of sustainable design particularly the concept of the eco-footprint or food miles. How we take responsibility for both design and our consumerist tendencies or how indeed we maintain ethics as designers is central within the example of goldfish in class on monday. In what ways can you set parameters so that you do not kill symbolic godlfish at each turn is an interesting and infinite question.

Also found some interesting info on biomass as an energy source at http://www.greenchipstocks.com
It quotes that:
“Algae biomass…

Research at leading universities suggests that algae could supply enough fuel to meet all of America’s transportation needs in the form of biodiesel… using a scant 0.2% of the nation’s land.

In fact, enough algae can be grown to replace all transportation fuels in the U.S. on only 15,000 square miles, or 4.5 million acres of land.

That’s about the size of Maryland.”
This is an incredible statistic if true or even partially true. Because of the high rate of growth (up to 30 times that of land plants) algae makes a perfect plant to base this process on. However this has to be traded off with the fact that growth is promoted through nutrient rich water, however the oil content of the algae goes up by starving the algae of nutrients…

The process of biofuel basically means using the natural process of newly dead animal or plant matter decay to provide an energy source. For more info see http://www.energybulletin.net/1330.html

There is debate into whether the energy input required is larger than the fuel outcomes (according to one CSIRO rep) however others remain optimistic at the net output energy that can be provided by the algae cultivation.

I found this interesting because the creation of a fuel cultivating agriculture is a growing industry. Again the need to critically analyse the manufacturing capabilities of nature is a necessity as it would be of an industrial factory. Solar energy may be put to better use hitting panels over a 15 000 kilometre square area that this being turned in an algae farm. It is curious to think of as in the surge of exploration into renewable energy it would be easy to take tech updates that are not the best option by basically getting carried away under the mantra of renewable is good… which obviously it is… confused now going to stop writing….